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LSU legend and NFL Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle is No. 18 on Louisiana's list of all-time top 51 athletes

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Despite tough moments like this one in 1964 when Y.A. Tittle got a concussion and a cracked sternum on a play, he had a standout career and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
(Associated Press Archive)

For anyone who believes that an athlete is on the downside of his pro career when he reaches his mid-30s, do some research on Y.A. Tittle, the first former LSU football player to be named the NFL's Most Valuable Player.

In fact, Tittle, a tough-minded quarterback from Marshall, Texas, who's No. 18 on the NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune list of the 51 greatest athletes in Louisiana history, was the league MVP four times. Three of those awards came when he was age 35 and older.

Tittle caught the eyes of pro scouts when LSU coach Bernie Moore switched from a single-wing to a T-formation offense in 1945, and put Tittle at quarterback. By the time he left the Tigers, he had thrown for 2,525 yards and 23 touchdowns, eye-popping numbers in the days when coaches weren't yet enamored with the forward pass.

It seemed odd back then that LSU was able to recruit such an out-of-state gem as Tittle. But as Tittle explained in former Times-Picayune columnist Peter Finney's book, "The Fighting Tigers, he was attracted to LSU because his older brother Jack was an All-SEC performer at Tulane. Jack Tittle recalled the hard work his younger brother put in to become a great passer.

"I remember going out to the backyard and hanging up an old tire as a target," Jack said of Y.A. "He'd throw at it by the hour. And he didn't take the easy way out. He'd get that tire swinging and still hit it on the button."

In former Times-Picayune sportswriter Marty Mule's book "Game of My Life - Memorable Stories of LSU Tigers football," Tittle detailed his first exposure to LSU.

"Every year, we'd go see Jack play against LSU, and I was impressed even as a young kid with the enthusiasm, the tiger in the cage, the campus, just the whole LSU atmosphere," Tittle said. "I was recruited by a number of schools, but I committed to LSU after my senior year."

But Tittle explained pressure from the Marshall townsfolk about going to a Texas school resulted in him visiting the University of Texas. He agreed to attend Texas, and was given a summer job, though he had not officially enrolled.

Tittle was not happy in Austin. So after three weeks, when LSU assistant coach Red Swanson visited him and asked him if he wanted to change his mind, an embarrassed Tittle said, "Yes."

Swanson, who didn't want to act like he was stealing a player, told Tittle to call Texas coach Dana Bible and tell him of his decision to leave. Tittle went to a phone, faked a call in which he pretended to be talking and then hung up telling Swanson, "Everything seems to be okay."

When Tittle filled out a questionnaire for then-LSU sports information Jim Corbett, Corbett noticed that Tittle wrote 'Y.A.' as his first time name. When Corbett told Tittle initials weren't enough and he needed to fill out his first name, Tittle confirmed that was his first name.

But a curious Corbett finally called the courthouse in Marshall, Texas, to request information on a Y.A. Tittle. There was no Y.A. Tittle but there was a Yelberton Abraham Tittle, so Corbett went back to Tittle with the new information.

"I'd appreciate it if you lay off using my name," Tittle told Corbett, who kept his promise as the Tigers went 21-6-2 with Tittle as a three-year starting quarterback. In Tittle's first season when he was a freshman second-string tailback in a single wing offense, he started and ended the season with a bang.

In his very first college game, a 27-27 tie vs. Alabama, he threw for a touchdown, ran eight times for 16 yards, returned three punts for 46 yards, punted eight times with three downed inside the Alabama 10. Also on defense, he made a TD-saving tackle of Tide all-American back Harry Gilmer.

And in the Tigers' 25-6 season-finale win over Tulane, Tittle completed 12 straight passes, a school record that would stand for nearly 50 years.

One of his unforgettable LSU moments came in his senior season against Ole Miss when he intercepted a fourth-quarter pass at the OM 15 from Rebels' great Charlie Conerly. As Tittle pulled away from the receiver who was grabbing the top of Tittle's pants from the rear, the receiver yanked Tittle's belt so hard that the belt buckle in the front of the pants broke.

Tittle had a clear 70-yard path to the goal line. But trying to hold the football in one hand and hold up his pants with his other hand was too much. He was tackled at the LSU 38 and Ole Miss ended up winning 20-18.

Though Tittle was the sixth overall pick of the Detroit Lions in the 1948 NFL draft, he chose to begin his career with the Baltimore Colts of the All-American Football Conference. The Colts joined the NFL in 1950, but became defunct after that season.

Tittle joined the San Francisco 49ers in 1951 and played 10 seasons and was a four-time Pro Bowler. Just before the start of the 1961 season, he was traded to the Giants, where he was a three-time Pro Bowl pick.

It turned out to be the break of his career. Between 1961-63, Tittle threw 86 touchdown passes, including a league-record 36 in 1963, and was the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 30 or more touchdowns in two consecutive seasons. He led the Giants to the NFL championship game three straight seasons, but came up empty each time.

To this day, he is still tied for first with the most TD passes thrown in a NFL game, tossing seven vs. the Washington Redskins in 1962.